Friday 22 March 2019

A Little Top of the Pops (In the Back of My Mind)

Time to rip your shirts off and flex those baby oiled muscles - it's the 9th July 1987 edition of Top of the Pops!

Tops off the pops


09/07/87  (Gary Davies)

Shakin’ Stevens – “A Little Boogie Woogie (In The Back Of My Mind)” (26)
Shaky and friends get the live show off to a memorable start with this Gary Glitter cover which peaked at number 12

A-ha – “The Living Daylights” (5) (video)
This theme from the latest Bond movie was now at its peak.

Black – “Sweetest Smile” (12)
Performing a live vocal in the studio and the song peaked at number 8.

Genesis – “Throwing It All Away” (22) (breaker)
Got no higher.

Jackie Wilson – “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher” (21) (breaker)
It had peaked at number 11 in 1969, this time around it made number 15.

Mel & Kim – “FLM” (16) (breaker – Montreux clip)
Became the duo's third of four top ten hits when it peaked at number 7.

Heart – “Alone” (15) (breaker)
Became their first of three top ten hits when it peaked at number 3.

The Christians – “Hooverville” (27)
In the studio with the follow up to their number 22 hit Forgotten Town, this new on went one better and peaked at number 21.

Pet Shop Boys – “It’s A Sin” (1) (rpt from 02/07/87)
Second of thee weeks at number one.

Terence Trent D’Arby – “Wishing Well” (4) (video/credits)
At its peak.


July 16th is next

50 comments:

  1. Is there something you want to tell us, Shaky? Don't know why he thought male strippers would enhance his performance, but he certainly looks to be enjoying himself. Jolly little tune until you listen to the lyrics and it all gets a bit unpleasant. "A little boogie-woogie in the back of my car" was what some wags dubbed it.

    A-ha with the collaboration that so enraged John Barry that he swore he would never write another James Bond soundtrack again, and he didn't. I know it has its fans, but it does sound dreary rather than exciting to me. Doesn't help that The Living Daylights is one of the most boring Bond movies, either, cello and Precious Matthews notwithstanding.

    Black, now I bought the album this was off, presumably in my miserabilist period (yes, I got a Smiths album too). But kudos to Colin, as Gary says, it takes some cojones to sing live on your TV debut, and he did have a powerful, well applied voice. Such a shame how he ended up.

    Breakers, Genesis with a concert video! Where do they get their ideas? Bring back Spitting Image. Anyway, the song is more feel sorry for yourself material, given AOR credence by not being written by a student in a bedsit. Cute Jackie Wilson video - I'll have to see if it's on YouTube. Yet more Montreux, Mel and Kim in possibly their last TV appearance before Wogan and tragedy. Heart will be on again, that was a massive tune back then.

    The Christians with more of their socially conscious pop, and a terrific example of it, great harmonies, intelligent lyrics and unusual subject matter, plus top production. Well worth reviving more.

    Still not seeing the Derek Jarman video for It's a Sin - maybe next week? Or was it too controversial? Discovered watching this tonight I can sing all the words, and magnificently pissed off lyrics they are.

    Terry on video to end on, this is one of a small number of "fake laugh" songs, i.e. a song where the singer does a fake laugh. See also: Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight by R.E.M. and Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, among others. Seems to be a North American thing.

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    1. None of the examples you list can hold a candle to the Laughing Policeman!

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    2. the above reminds me of something called a "laughing bag" that i got as a christmas present as a kid in the early 70's. it was a plastic box with a speaker inside a drawstring bag, and if you pressed a button inside there was a recording of a tinny-sounding elongated maniacal laugh. fast-forward about 30 years when i started listening to the (actually very funky) first track debut album by sweet sensation, and was greeted by a familiar sound...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkdwliHnBYs

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    3. A friend of mine suggested David Bowie's The Laughing Gnome, but I'm not sure, the "Ha, ha, ha!" is part of the lyrics, and when Dame Dave really does start giggling, it sounds genuine to my ears.

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    4. i remember getting hold of "the laughing gnome" in a second-hand record shop after it was a hit on re-release, and finding the b-side "the gospel according to tony day" quite curious listening. on top of an interesting musical backdrop (dominated by what sounds like an oboe of all things) the dame denegrates various acquaintances for their immorality and/or shortcomings in some way or other and opines "who needs friends?". but what i never knew until now was that those mentioned in the song were actually real people that he knew at the time!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GidrQdpNy8E

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    5. Howsabout Sting's laugh at the start of "Roxanne", or was that real?

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    6. Difficult to know... as Winnie the Pooh said, you never can tell with bees.

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    7. I think Shanice's I Love Your Smile had an annoying giggle on the end of it, though can't remember for certain as I haven't heard it for a long time.

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    8. That Shanice record is annoying all the way through, an unbelievably irksome song. And yes, she does do a fake laugh.

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    9. There's a laugh at the end of Whitney Houston's last decent song 'Love Will Save The Day' which I think is genuine.

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    10. THX - yes, the Shanice record is extremely irksome, which is why I haven't listened to it for a long time!

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  2. After the Headmaster's blundering last week, it's a relief to be in Gazza's safe hands this time. He looks tanned and relaxed, presumably back from a holiday, and all that is missing from his open-necked smart-casual ensemble is a medallion...

    My jaw hit the floor as soon as the Shaky performance started and stayed there throughout, so mesmerisingly terrible was it. On paper, it should have been screamingly camp to have Shaky surrounded by muscled, bare-chested men, but with Mr Barratt just doing his normal thing in their midst it looked utterly ridiculous. The song itself inevitably gets overshadowed, but it's nothing special anyway - I suppose we should be grateful this didn't get cut, as it's a Glitter song, but it might have been a mercy for BBC4 viewers if it had been! A-ha next, with what for me is one of the weakest Bond themes, a duff attempt to replicate the success Duran Duran had enjoyed with the previous one. It's overproduced, plodding and dull, and a sad way for John Barry to bring his Bond career to a close - apparently he didn't get on with the band either. The video is also a bit of a mess, with clips from the film laid over Morten and co in a very cheap and amateurish way. However, contrary to other contributors I like Dalton's Bond, and can happily rewatch both his films.

    The late Colin Vearncombe makes his studio debut, finally enjoying a taste of the big time only two years after being dropped by his record company and enduring homelessness. His most famous song had already been released in 1986 and stalled at 42, before being reissued off the back of the success of this now-forgotten breakthrough hit, which despite making the Top 10 I don't think I have ever heard before. It's in a similar vein to Wonderful Life, but sparser and more sombre, and while a classy piece of work it perhaps doesn't have enough of a hook to really stand out. Good live vocal from Colin however, and his double bass player had an impressive hairdo. On to the breakers, and this is all we will see of Genesis and Jackie Wilson. I remember the video for the latter well, particularly Seventies Man getting vertigo on the outside of his apartment block, and the song is a classic slice of upbeat soul - the law of diminishing chart returns was now setting in, however, and the Wilson revival would end here. As for Genesis, it's a good tune (albeit with a boring "on tour" promo), but it seems a bit weird to put it out as a single when the Invisible Touch album had been released a full year earlier, and no great surprise it got no higher as a result.

    The Christians are back, with more socially conscious lyrics, but unfortunately this song is nowhere near as powerful or memorable as Forgotten Town - by comparison, it seems quite bland and insipid. The most notable thing about this performance is the young chap bouncing around a bit too exuberantly at the back of the stage. Finally, TTD slides up to his mic and looks cool on a park bench while playing us out.

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    1. Shakin' Stevens here was a detraction (or permanent move?) from his usual rock-n-roll 50s style covers and hip-shaking, although the hip-shaking hadn't gone away on this opener to the show, despite the pressure of the male stage dancers around him. Unusual that he didn't go for female ones which you would think was more his style on stage!

      Anyway, was this new music style for him a SAW production, to take him away from his historically independent style we have seen on the show since 1980/81? The new style didn't seem to suit him I thought.

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    2. Yes, I thought Shaky was attempting to move with the times on this one and adopt a SAW-like sound, though the record was actually co-produced by Mike Leander, the man behind Gary Glitter's success and who had also co-written this song with Glitter.

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  3. Similar vein, there is no late-night repeat of TOTP 1987 tonight due to back-to-back episodes of thriller The Missing now being scheduled up to BBC4's downtime as fans wanting them to have the complete box set on iPlayer, the following night there is no TOTP 1987 double bill due to a complete box set that will be made available for people to watch on iPlayer in similar vein as Line of Duty got shown in complete form over a couple of weeks ago. As BBC4's music slot has been cancelled tonight (by the looks of things) as you'd get up to midnight, as you might watch a catch-up of TOTP 1987 on iPlayer if in case you'd had missed it.

    Hopefully BBC4's uncut factor of 1987 performances will be set to continue with Def Leppard's Animal (from 13/08/87) and lastly Ray Parker Jr from 29/10/87 in the coming weeks as despite UK Gold went to the 'Breakers' section after the chart rundown in their repeat in the mid 90s because of a Terence Trent D'Arby video playout 'Wishing Well'.

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    1. Do you work for BBC4 by any chance? If not, then I think you'd make a good job as a presenter on the channel. Anyway, I don't need the Saturday night repeats this weekend, as I will be watching the snooker final on rival channel ITV4, in an unusual format of best-of-25 frames over two days, considering it is not the world championships.

      In fact in these TOTP runs now well into 1987, I'm finding that I am only finding one or two songs on the show worth commenting about, as the quality of music seems to have started its decline, as we had all envisaged in previous blogs since around the 1985-86 shows at least.

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  4. shakin' stevens: despite the inference of the title in musical terms, the rank rock n roll efforts have now been replaced by seriously bad synth pop. and what exactly was the point of being surrounded by a bunch of oiled-up musclemen - was he trying to tell us something?

    a-ha: i'd forgotten how this one went, but yes listening now i concur that it's basically "a view to a kill" which was one of the worst bond themes up to that point. and it's not even as good as that. mind you the bond franchise was already seriously taking in water at that point, and the decision to go with second-choice timothy dalton to replace the creaking roger moore (pierce brosnan was denied the producers because of his ties with a successful tv series) as a quip-free bond was a serious mistake. john barry should actually have jumped this sinking ship long before he did, although his last contribution was a majestic instrumental finale of the same name that pisses all over the main theme

    black: actually a band name originally, but not surprisingly with a name like colin vearncombe the singer kept it as his stage name once he went solo (and with his piggy eyes, he didn't look much like a pop star either). like back then, i would have liked this atmospheric track a lot more if it wasn't for the overbearing pino palladino-like slippery bass

    christians: after "forgotten town", it's a case of forgotten tune! with a similar unimpressive chart result, it's no wonder they decided to cover "harvest for the world" not long after

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    1. Harvest for the World was a charity single (for an animation-led charity, I think? Might be wrong), which explains why it was a cover. Might not even have been The Christians' choice.

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  5. Incidentally: "Tops off the Pops" - excellent punning!

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  6. Shakin' Stevens - That performance is certainly one I won't be able to forget for a while. Not sure who thought that would be a good idea unless Man 2 Man had suddenly become Shaky's choreographer. Tragic I know but I do actually like the song though!

    a-ha - Certainly one of my least favourite songs for the band, it just doesn't take off. The video also seems to be a pale imitation of their earlier efforts.

    Black - Colin Vearncombe should have been a much bigger star, he had an amazing voice and created some fine tunes. He never seemed to get the breaks, even passing away just after David Bowie did with the result that he wasn't mourned much at all. This song is brilliant, it got exactly as high as 'Wonderful Life' yet you never hear it, and the live vocal is great.

    Breakers - It would have made sense to show the Genesis video after the interview the week before, but maybe they were worried that people would nod off. So we get a mercifully short clip here. The Jackie Wilson song is OK but definitely the weakest of the 3 re-releases.

    The Christians - Not much love for this here it seems but I think it's one of their finest tunes. Weird to see the audience clapping and whooping along to such a socially conscious song though...

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  7. Shakin stevens - set faces to stunned! Wasn’t helped by Shakey’s ‘dad dancing’, but I am forced to admit I enjoyed the song...

    As stated last week, and contrary to the majority on here, I like the aha bond theme.

    Charts - Jack Mix 2 seems to have been on the charts forever. Don’t remember the Boogie Box cover of Jive Talkin...

    Loved what we saw of the Jackie Wilson video, impressed they left the mouthed ‘s**t’ in...

    Why the dirty look from the girl when Gary announced they had run out of time...?

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Morgie25 March 2019 at 12:22
      The Boogie Box High cover of Jive Talkin got a lot of radio play at the time as I remember taping it and playing it loads.
      If rumour is to be believed it is George Michael on uncredited vocal duty.

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  8. Sad to hear Scott Walker has died, one of a kind, from glorious pop to extreme experimental albums, there was nobody like him. Don't think he was on these repeats? But must have been a regular on TOTP in the 60s.

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    1. We missed him by a matter of weeks in the repeat run, as his last TOTP performance was doing No Regrets with his "brothers" on 12/2/76. That show does actually still exist, and can be found in this Google Drive cache:

      https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y05Da1yH1Z-TlKidV3m9KPZ0iz9RVqmr

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    2. Thanks for pointing that out, the No Regrets TOTP appearance is on YT. They seemed to be performing live, with the orchestra providing the strings. Like the little grin the "bros" exchange near the end.

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    3. Scott Walker was an amazing vocalist. My favourites of his (one with his 'brothers', one without) were both hits but you never hear them now - 'My Ship Is Coming In' and 'Lights Of Cincinnati'.

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    4. the problem with scott walker was that he had a classic crooner's voice in my opinion, and yet was never happy as a crooner (he allegedly couldn't stand his biggest solo hit "joanna", which i know from doing karoake to is a crooner's dream). indeed, he tried everything he could to get away from that - to the point of perhaps becoming the ultimate industry outsider? still, i presume he died feeling that turning his back on fame and fortune had been the right thing to do?

      btw, i had an aunt who ran the walker brothers fan club at the height of their career in the 60's! don't know if she ever met scott and/or the others or not though

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    5. I can't say I'm a big Scott Walker fan - he had the voice and the looks, but I find a lot of his music quite dull, No Regrets being an exception. Unfortunately I have been hearing his interpretation of Jackie quite a lot on the radio lately, and it really irritates me - another song that graced the BBC's banned list, as well.

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    6. not that you're ever likely to hear a poor version of what i consider one of the greatest songs ever written (although terry jacks' hit version veers dangerously close with its ill-advised time signature changes!), but perhaps the best recording of another jacques brel composition "if you go away" (aka "ne me quitte pas") was by mr engel?:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y323GrCsN_Y

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    7. I think Walker was a lot happier ploughing his own furrow - I can't imagine him going on the nostalgia circuit!

      He was still working till recently, he'd done a soundtrack to Brady Corbet's latest movie Vox Lux - I haven't seen that yet, but Scott's soundtrack to Corbet's previous one, Childhood of a Leader, was fantastic (and better than the film it accompanied!). Bizarrely, the new film saw him working with Sia. Presumably a mixture of Titanium and The Drift! Eesh.

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    8. i suppose you could say that ultimate testimony of walker's decision to lurk in the hinterlands of cultville for the latter half of his life is evident on wikipedia - he's not listed in the "recent deaths" section on their front page, as opposed to the likes of mike cofer, wolfgang meyer and eunetta t. boone (no, i've never heard of them either!)

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    9. someone with access to wiki must have read the above comment, as notification of scott's death has now been elevated to the main page. ranking roger's probably won't be though!

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    10. Yes, RIP Ranking Roger too. He always looked pleased to be there.

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    11. jonathan woss's favourite pop star!

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    12. update: the late ranking roger has now actually appeared in the "recent deaths" front page section on wiki - although no doubt millions are wondering who the hell he was!

      so david cassidy remains the most famous pop star never to receive that posthumous "accolade" to my knowledge. the globally-known actor jan-michael vincent's death never made it there either, but in their defence for some reason it was kept from the media for several weeks after it happened

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  9. Live tonight with Ooh Gary and what the hell has happened to Shaky. What's with the muscle men? Is a SAW production. The song is bloody awful. No Shaky No.
    Wifey is crying with laughter.. 😀 😀 😀 I don't know what else to say... I'm stunned.....

    Aha bring some order to proceedings with a great video to a great song. Not sure it's a great bond theme but it's a good pop song.

    Little boogie woogie..no get out of my head...

    Black singing live. Didn't think much of this in the breakers last week and this hasn't made me change my mind. Loving the hair on the dude on double bass (if that's what it is, I'm never sure). Singers got some lungs on him.

    Breakers :
    Genesis, who couldn't be bothered to perform last week, get an outing for their video to this song that should have stayed an album track
    Great tune from Jackie Wilson. Another funny video. 😀 Is this the last of his hits.
    Montreaux again, f..king Lovely Mate. 😀 Love Mel and Kim
    Alone from Heart, quality ballad, I adore this. The slow build of the verse into the storming chorus. Superb.

    The Christians back in the studio with another tune I don't recognise but I like this. Best performance on the show tonight, gonna have to add this to playlist.

    When I close my eyes I can still see that Shakey travesty...

    Bruce STILL climbing.. Who's buying this?

    Repeat of the Big Mac performance from the PSB. 😀

    TTD video to end the show. Said before this is his best song and JT is dancing.

    Odd show. GD very professional as usual.

    Dont think I'm ever gonna get over that Shakey performance... I need therapy.

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  10. Late arrival this week. Busy weekend. Nice to see Gary back.

    Shakin Stevens – A little boogie woogie – Written by the same writers as ‘A Boy from Nowhere’…plus Glitter. I know which song I prefer, this is dire! Morgie I’m totally with you on this travesty!

    A-Ha – The Living Daylights – I enjoyed seeing Maryam D’Abo and her cello but that is all! I think I have only seen this Bond film once and I really don’t recall much apart from the cello! Perhaps I should watch it again, but Dalton’s portrayal did nothing for me – preferred him as a Time Lord in Dr Who.

    Black – Sweetest Smile – Very nice. Great live vocal. But why was he known as Black?

    Breakers – Genesis – If you watch the full video on YT its starts off with Phil announcing that it is a ‘behind the scenes on tour’ montage, and very good it is too. Check it out. Jackie Wilson – so the obsession with old Jackie Wilson tracks continues. Mel and Kim – FLM – I don’t think FLM was meant to stand for Fun, love and money….not a great track anyway. Heart – simply fabulous….

    Christians – Hooverville – Another innovative sound from the Liverpool Lads…and three more singles still to come from the eponymous debut album.

    Pet Shop Boys – It’s a Sin – Great again….but surprised to see a studio repeat rather than the video.

    Terence Trent Derby – Wishing Well – Feel free to mention any other band who have had a hit with this title….

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    1. sct i've explained the origins of black above! i get the "wishing well" joke btw

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  11. Is anyone else watching the excellent Yorkshire Ripper documentary series on BBC4 this week? I ask because it featured a clip of TOTP, with DLT introducing the video of Killer on the Loose by Thin Lizzy, a spectacular bit of bad taste cashing in on the murders. But did we see that episode on the BBC4 repeats? I can't remember, but one of the experts here might. Any help?

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    1. That would have been the show from 2/10/80, which was Yewtreed. Evidently in some circumstances, at least, the Beeb are now willing to show DLT. Perhaps they thought the context was OK here, given DLT's own offence against a woman - hardly in the Sutcliffe league though, was it?

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    2. so DLT has finally been allowed to have his face seen on bbc4 again? sadly too late for us though - even though by his latter episodes of hosting totp he had served his sentence for tweaking the tits of a media whore, and was once more a fine and upstanding member of our society...

      what i remember about the yorkshire ripper case was that when plod made an appeal over the PA during a match at the leeds football ground for help in tracking him down, the crowd responded with the chant "you'll never catch the ripper!"!

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    3. The footage they've unearthed in this doc has been terrific - as you say, Wilberforce, there was a clip of a football match with the crowd singing "One Jack the Ripper! There's only one Jack the Ripper!"

      Anyway, I don't think the doc was equating DLT with a murderer! They would have shown whoever introduced it anyway. On iPlayer if you're interested - I'm not into true crime TV, but this has been superb.

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    4. I was being a little bit facetious in my previous comment, but in these strange times I wouldn't put anything past the Beeb! I haven't seen the doc yet, but will give it a go over the weekend.

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    5. what a shame DLT wasn't introducing the olympic runners in the clip in question, given that their keyboard player pete wingfield was a ringer for the ripper!

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  12. Does anyone know why BBC4 are skipping the 16th July episode and moving straight onto 23rd July, with nothing about this in the TV schedules until the last minute? What a shambles!

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    1. Technical issues, apparently going to try and get it out tomorrow instead.

      https://twitter.com/cassianh/status/1111362213397311488

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    2. BBC Four channel editor Cassian Harrison tweeted:"Was a technical issue with the playout so we had to swap in tomorrow's - we'll look in tomorrow morning if we can get it out"

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    3. OK, all is forgiven, let's just get the show out as soon as. I mean, the playout is not important, as the same song would be no.1 the following week!

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